Roscoe Zuckerman on West Coast Live ~ March 29, 2008

Tomorrow, March 29, Roscoe Zuckerman of Zuckerman's Farm will be a guest on the nationally broadcast radio show West Coast Live. WCL will be broadcasting from the Ferry Building from 10 am to 12 pm, and you can be part of the live audience. For more information, visit www.wcl.org. Tune in by radio to KALW 91.7.

Climate-Friendly Eating ~ March 31, 2008

On Monday, March 31, at 6:30 pm, join CUESA for a panel discussion about environmentally conscious food choices. Global climate change is now inescapable, but the good news is that you can lessen your climate impact by eating well. Come learn about which foods have the biggest carbon footprint and how you can make cooler food choices. Click here to learn more >

Greenhouse Grown Farm Tour ~ Sunday, April 20

Spend a day visiting two farms that rely on greenhouses to help grow their crops: Bruins Farms in Winters and Orangewood Farm in Rumsey. This all-day bus tour will cost $25 and will include lunch. Click here for more information and to buy tickets >

Waste Wise volunteers needed!

Help CUESA green the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market! We are launching a Waste Wise Farmers Market program in April (see feature article below) and we need your help to make it a success. Our team of Waste Wise station monitors will play an essential role by teaching customers about our new three-bin system (recycling, compost, and trash) and ensuring that materials go into the right bin. As a Waste Wise station monitor, not only will you help divert waste from the landfill, you'll also help teach thousands of shoppers to become more waste wise. Training will be provided. We need volunteers every Tuesday from 9:30 to 2 beginning April 15th, and every Saturday from 7:30 to 2 beginning April 19th. For more information, please contact CUESA's volunteer coordinator at ashleigh@cuesa.org.

CUESA is hiring a Waste Wise Volunteer Coordinator

This part-time contractor will be responsible for coordinating our Waste Wise station volunteers. The deadline is this Sunday, March 30. For further details, see our position announcement >

Waste Wise Market Celebration ~ April 22 and 26

We're kicking off our new Waste Wise Market initiative with a heap of fun activities at our Tuesday and Saturday markets. Click here to see the schedule of events >

Saturday, March 29 ~ Market to Table

10:30 am ~ Meet the market manager
CUESA's Dexter Carmichael will answer questions and give a spring market report. He might bring a surprise guest farmer!

11:00 am ~ Seasonal cooking demonstration
Charles Vollmar of Tempus Clinic

Saturday, April 5 ~ Market to Table

10:30 am ~ Meet the farmer
Warren Weber of Star Route Farms

11:00 am ~ Seasonal cooking demonstration
Liza Shaw of A16

11:45 am ~ Seasonal cooking demonstration and book signing
Georgeanne Brennan, Author of A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France

All programs will take place in front of the Ferry Building on the north side.

The Ferry Plaza Farmers Market generates community, delicious food, and an enormous amount of waste. On Saturdays during the height of market season, more than one hundred 45-gallon garbage bags are filled with food scraps, plastic water bottles, coffee cups, paper plates, packaging, soda cans and other discarded things, all of which eventually end up in the landfill. And that’s just at the market; it doesn’t include packaging and plastic bags. Over the course of the year, our sellers distribute over 1,000,000 plastic bags, most of which are not ultimately reused or recycled. 

The creation of this much rubbish, and the dumping of perfectly good recyclable resources in the landfill, is antithetical to our mission of promoting a sustainable food system. Over the years, we’ve attempted to implement recycling programs and have found that our debris dilemma can’t be tackled simply by putting out bins and signage. We need a comprehensive plan that includes infrastructure, market-wide support, staffing, and education. With a grant from the Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund, and in-kind donations from Norcal Waste Systems and Golden Gate Disposal, we’ve been working since January to devise a waste-reduction strategy that will significantly lessen the ecological impact of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. We are kicking off our new Waste Wise Market initiative on April 22 and 26, to coincide with Earth Day.

Our first Waste Wise Market goal is to properly sort all of the materials discarded at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. This means that everything that’s recyclable gets recycled, everything that’s compostable gets composted, and everything that’s waste gets wasted. Second, we plan to reduce the amount of waste generated at the market, including gradually reducing the number of plastic bags distributed by our sellers and encouraging compostable and recyclable packaging. We also hope to increase our shoppers’ reuse, recycling, and composting of food packaging and scraps at home, and we aim to inspire visitors from other parts of the country and the world to take these waste-wise values home with them. Beyond 2008, we’ll create new Waste Wise goals annually, seeking eventually to phase out plastic bags entirely, and ultimately eliminate waste altogether.

To reach our goals, the actions and commitment of our market shoppers are essential. We are counting on you to take the time to reduce waste by remembering to bring your own bags, containers, and coffee cups; we also need you to correctly sort your discards at the market and in your home. It is our job to make this as easy and fun as possible. In the coming weeks, e-letter readers can look for extensive information about composting, recycling, and conservation, including tips, resources, and more. At the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, expect to see trials of our new three-bin collection system in the weeks preceding the launch. On April 22 and 26, get ready for a huge Waste Wise celebration, including a reusable bag parade, free reusable bag giveaways, an educational display, new Waste Wise stations, film screenings, a recycled art exhibit, cooking demonstrations, and more! 

It will take considerable effort to implement and sustain this initiative, and we will need the help of a whole lot of volunteers. We have learned from event managers, and the small handful of other markets around the nation that have implemented similar programs, that each Waste Wise station will require a monitor. Monitors ensure that shoppers sort their throw-aways into the right bin. Otherwise, contamination occurs, which can mean that a whole bin of recycling or compost has to go to the landfill. Our large market footprint necessitates as many as seven stations on a busy Saturday, and each will need a volunteer monitor at all times. That’s a lot people-power! We are currently recruiting volunteers to become Waste Wise monitors.

In addition, we will be launching an “Adopt a Waste Wise station” program, an opportunity for businesses, organizations, community groups, clubs, and others to help in our efforts. Your group can adopt one or more stations for a month or longer, or you can adopt all the stations in the market for a single day. Your team will commit to providing the volunteer support we need. We’ll provide the training, and your group will receive recognition in our weekly e-letter and in sponsor postings at the market.

If you are interested in volunteering as an individual or organizing a group to adopt a station, please contact Ashleigh, our Volunteer Coordinator, at ashleigh@cuesa.org.

See the schedule of events for our Waste Wise Market launch >

This is the most up-to-date information about which sellers will and won't be attending the market as of Friday, when we send this letter. If there are no changes to a seller's status, they will not be listed. To find out which farmers regularly attend each market, click here. Please understand that there are often last-minute changes--it's the nature of farming!

Saturday, March 29

In/Returning: Apple Farm, Bernard Ranches, Critical Edge Knife Sharpening, Elston Family Farm, Yerena Farms
Out: Redwood Hill Farm, Tierra Vegetables

Tuesday, April 1

In/Returning: Bella Viva Orchards, Yerena Farms

Returning this month: Pea greens, raw olives, English peas, lilacs, fava beans, hyacinth, Parrot tulips, rhubarb, and strawberries

Plentiful: Spinach, asparagus, avocados, green garlic, spring onions, kumquats, nettles, broccoli, rapini greens, artichokes, baby turnips, carrots, fresh goat cheeses, goat meat, eggs, and plant starts

Winding down/limited supply: Kiwis, Brussels sprouts, cherimoyas, shallots, some citrus varieties (like Cara Cara oranges, Satsuma mandarins, and Fukumoto navels) lamb, and potatoes

Farms that will be returning this month (weather willing): Bodega & Yerba Santa Goat Cheese, White Crane Springs Ranch, Madison Growers, The Peach Farm (with lilacs!), Happy Quail Farm, and The Apple Farm

Recipes for March

Spring Sunshine Salad, cookbook author Heidi Swanson

Sugo di Carciofi alla Ligure (Artichoke Sauce from Liguria) from cookbook author Joyce Goldstein

Spring Onion, Sweet Pea & Asparagus Risotto from Bridget Batson of TWO Restaurant